When you’re visiting the MTS Centre this season for an NHL game (and arenas around the world) you aren’t just going to a game, you’re going to a hockey experience. Not only are the players working to put out a carefully planned game, about forty employees at the MTS Centre are in charge of putting together the best possible hockey experience.

The man in charge of that is Kyle Balharry, Director of Event Production for True North. Kyle has been working with True North since 2000, and doing event production at the Winnipeg Arena/MTS Centre since 2002.

Event production involves creating and following a script. Everything that you see at the arena, videos on the jumbotron, the arena ring, PA announcements, off play promotions and music have all been well thought out and predetermined.

Kyle is responsible for ensuring that fans have a positive experience. At the same time he needs to ensure that the sponsors are able to get their name out there. He does this by finding a balance between the two.

The main goal for the production crew, is to maintain the integrity of the game, and create an awesome hockey environment. While Kyle feels that the game itself and the crowd, are the best devices to create that hockey environment, the music and production elements play an important role as well.

I spoke with Kyle on a number of topics, but the one topic that everyone has an opinion about is the music.

Kyle on picking songs for the arena:

“It’s not about what song it is, it’s about the sound and the feeling that it gives the crowd. When it’s a powerplay, you want a song like “Welcome to the Jungle” that makes people feel like they want to go crazy.”

“When it’s a penalty kill, it will be stuff that makes you feel nervous. When the team hits the ice, it has to be something that sounds big and sounds incredible. (For the) Moose we used, (“Running Wild” by) Airbourne, and it was our signature song, it was great. Lots of that “hey hey” stuff is great for live sports.“

As for the current Winnipeg Jets intro song:

“Right now we’re using “No Money” by Kings of Leon, for the team on the ice. You can’t even hear it. That’s the interesting part (in choosing the song), we’re like ok, there’s a bunch of great songs out there, ultimately because the crowd is so loud, all we need is something that is atmosphere in the background.”

“Other teams use rock songs, or heavy metal songs. In the preseason we used Rob Zombie “Demon Speeding”, which was good too. It’s more of a “we’re going to kick your ass kind of song”. But we really liked the whole kind of “Fix You” and “Where the Streets Have No Name” just an epic, surreal feeling. You’ve got the lights moving around, the team skating around, you can barely hear it, because everyone is so loud.”

“The way I found it was I got a disc sent to me, from a music producer, saying “new band, new, song, have a listen, this isn’t on the charts yet, this isn’t out.” I thought, awesome song, we’ve got to use that, nobody knows who this band is but who cares, it’s about the sound of the song, not necessarily who the band is.”

“We ran with it, it worked really well, the problem was we only played two home games that playoff season, we realistically only used it for two games. We said hey, you know what, we don’t like to recycle things, but we only used it for two games. It’s tough (to hear), after goals its super loud too, so you don’t even hear it.”

“That one’s now been in use for, 30 years probably. What it is; is a train horn from the old CP or CN yard. We actually increased the volume a little bit this year, we added another set of horns, but it still gets drowned out a little bit. It’s a legacy thing, it was the Moose thing, and was the Jets thing. It’s Winnipeg’s hockey staple. It’s a flashlight case, that has a button on it. I’ve blown the goal horn for every Moose goal since 2002”.

Deriving from the Jets theme that True North has emphasized this season in their marketing and branding , the song played after a Jets win is “Learn to Fly” by the Foo Fighters. A person in the sales department suggested it to Kyle and he liked it immediately.

“There are times; powerplay, penalty kill, end of game, where you want a signature song. Learn to Fly is great, its Foo Fighters, it’s a rock song, it works. There are a lot of other songs about airplanes, or flying, that would have sounded terrible. Learn to Fly, it makes you feel good, it’s awesome.”

While Kyle is proud of his song selection, he understands that when it comes to music, you can’t please everyone. It’s important for his team to realize that everyone has different musical tastes, and continue to try to put out the best hockey experience for Winnipeg fans.

There you have it. The man behind the music and how the songs were selected. What do you think of the music choices? What would you do differently? Let us know your ideas/thoughts in the comments section.

Thanks everyone for your positive comments, if there are any other songs you have noticed, post them here.

As for visiting team goals, I don’t know if there is a consistent song yet, last game they used:
Foster the People – Pumped up Kicks
The Police – Syncronicity? (I think it was that, I don’t remember clearly which song)

Anonymous

I’ll miss the history of the Jets video… I never got tired of it. The production crew does a good job, although the last game the music was far too loud (and no, I’m not old, lol).

The air horn is a norm in the NHL ie: boring and redundant. The LOUD sound of a jet taking off as it echoes through the building would be more current and more original (and not unlike what the Jets used to enter the ice surface in the old barn)

If they ever change the intro songs my choices are Vicarious by Tool, (great opening riff) Sabotage by The Beastie Boys, Unchained by Van Halen, Money City Maniacs by Sloan There’s No Secrets This Year by Silversun Pickups and For Those About To Rock We Salute You by AC/DC.

Anonymous

what ever happened to JUMP – Van Halen!! You want to see fans go crazy? Play that.

Anonymous

I agree that the sound of a jet flying from end of the rink to the opposite end would be cool . .

Anonymous

does anyone know the name of the song that was played after the capitals scored last night?
It was a cool bluesy rock tune.